


Waking Up

by foxy_mulder



Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Angst, Eddie loves venom a lot, Feelings, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Hurt/Comfort, Insecurity, Misunderstandings, Other, Pining, Protective Eddie, Rescue, Torture, Unethical Experimentation, Whump, insecure venom, protective Venom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-28
Packaged: 2019-08-23 13:01:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16619462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxy_mulder/pseuds/foxy_mulder
Summary: Venom is taken by scientists. Eddie is not.After awhile, they start to wonder if Eddie is better off without them.





	1. Chapter 1

They come to slowly. They stretch, twisting in the sheets to press against Eddie's warm back. There is only empty air.  
They shoot up, eyes wide. Everything is cold. Looking around, there is some sort of clear material surrounding them, encasing them from a white room filled with- Oh. They still. They aren't at home. This is a lab. A chill comes over them.  
  
_Where is Eddie?_  
  
The thought brings on a new kind of terror. Hurt. Dead. Worse? They throw their body against the container, frantic. It isn't breaking. It isn't breaking.  
  
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.  
  
They can't calm down. _Thunk._ Eddie isn't here. _Thunk._ The bad men have him, _Thunk._ hurting him like they hurt Venom before, _Thunk._ and it's all Venom's fault, _Thunk. Thunk._ and Eddie isn't there to tell them to calm down, _Thunk thunk thunk,_ and-  
  
"It's moving," a woman in surgical gloves says.  
  
There is muttering. Venom presses against their cage, but they know it would be little use to struggle. The container hisses and is filled with a mist. Venom remembers this; it would make them more portable, unable to move or fight restraints. Their mind feels hazy, the world swirls.  
They are lain on a table. Cold table. Sharp things. Shiny. A doctor with a sweaty head. Eddies head was always sweaty too, and-  
  
"Where... is... Eddie?"  
  
They aren't sure if they even said it out loud at first. Everything is soft.  
  
"Your host? He's probably at home."  
  
"What.. did y-you do." Moving their jaw requires every ounce of concentration they have. _At home?_  
  
"We don't hurt the human victims. We're here for disease control only- to study and destroy diseases." _Like you,_ he fails to say.  
  
When their mind manages to process the words, they're flooded with relief. Maybe it is true. Eddie is fine. Eddie will be here soon to rescue them and get them home and he would cook five packs of the dinosaur shaped nuggets Venom likes, and faun over them until they fall asleep. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The doctor cuts into them, taking strips of their body as they ineffectively writhe on the table. It hurts, but only distantly. They can't escape under whatever drug they were given; they can hardly move. The doctor places them back in the container just as the haze begins to wear off.  
The container is marked "Sample 169A." It has the number 69 in it. That's the kind of juvenile humor Eddie enjoys. They would have to remember to point it out when he arrived to get them. That is, if he is coming.  
  
_He will._  
  
But it is a fact that Eddie would be better without them. He had never said so out loud, but Venom knows.  
Yes, they have sex. They cuddle after and everything. Yes, he buys them nice things, talks to them, keeps them.  
  
_But he doesn't exactly have a choice. He's lonely and I'm a replacement._  
  
Parasites and hosts didn't have.. whatever this is that Venom wanted. Eddie was just so used to people treating him like shit he would take it from Venom. Venom the dangerous, annoying parasite. Eddie has no reason to keep Venom if given a chance to throw them away.  
  
The doctor said the scientists didn't hurt him. Maybe they didn't need to, for him to let Venom go.  
Venom sinks to the cage floor as reality hits.  
  
  
Eddie isn't coming.


	2. Chapter 2

Venom is out of their container again, on the table.

This is fine. This is fine. These people will kill them, but Venom can rest easy knowing Eddie is fine. (Well, fine would be a stretch for Eddie, but alive.)  
He could go to Anne's and stay with her and Dan, and Eddie could get that puppy he secretly wanted, without worrying that Venom would eat it like he secretly thought, and he could finally have the life he deserves.

Venom chokes on nothing. The doctor begins the incision.

\----------------------------------------

"What made you prey on him specifically?" 

They are exhausted. They hurt everywhere, and since a few.. days.. or hours? ago, they hadn't been able to stop shaking. The doctors brought in new doctors to do "interviews."  
Learn about their kind. Talk. In a way, worse than the sampling and experiments. Venom says nothing.

  


"Are you sure it can speak English?"

  


"It talks in it's sleep," one of the regulars chimes in. "Talking to it's host, like they're friends or something." 

  


The others seem to think that is very interesting. 

  


"Oh, why don't we go pay him a visit then, see if he considers you friends? His name was.. Eddie, right?"

  


He gets up as if to leave. To find Eddie. Venom surges off the table and snaps his arm in their teeth, ripping deep into the flesh.

Venom is immediately injected with something and the flourescent lights swirl in their vision. As they drift off, they hear screaming, and the sounds of pens scribbling notes furiously.

The doctors never try another interview. 

  
\--------------------------------------------------------

 

The doctors had inferred some things about Venom's.. feelings.. from the incident. The more sadistic ones made it into an inside joke, a game. 

  


They would come in the room and say, " Eddie's outside!," "Eddie sent you a letter but we lost it," Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. Teasing them. 

  


His name sounds like filth in their mouths. They long to rip out each one of those tongues. Instead, they sit there and ache.

_Tap._

"Eddie came to see you earlier." It's the bitten doctor.

  


Venom glances down at his left arm. It will never function like it did before. They have to focus on this instead of-

  


"Wanna know what he said?"

His fingers bend and twitch slightly on their own volition, now. Venom must have severed some important nerve- or he's just in a lot of pain.

  


"He said he's gonna kill you. He wants us to make you pay for what you've done, and he's so grateful for us."

  


He can't even form a full fist anymore, just a loose grip. His bandage is very tight.

  


"Eddie said that about you."

  


Venom twitches at the name. He notices.

  


"The name does it, huh? Eddie. Eddie. He said he would pay us to keep you here."

  


Venom is silent until he finally leaves. As his footsteps turn down the hall, they curl up and refuse to cry.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

They have no concept of time anymore. They are almost always kept under, since the second or third biting incident. The drugs, along with the under-feeding, leave them groggy and docile, perfect for testing. 

They have been dreaming about home.

Lying on Eddies chest pretending to watch Seinfeld reruns while actually just listening to his breathing. Licking his face to make him shriek. Being the big spoon when he was upset. When Venom came back they would ask to be the little spoon for once, be held and feel liked, or just tolerated. They could escape and find Eddie and then. Then. Their heart sank. He might have moved. Or if he hadn't, the first thing he would do is step on them, kick them into a sewer drain somewhere, and they would be too weak to stop it. They would deserve it, too. All this daily pain, constant aching and confusion, this was their punishment.

_Eddie comes through the window. This is when Venom knows it is a dream; the room has no windows. Eddie breaks their container and carries them. His arms are cold.  
He holds Venom out the window and lets them fall. _

\----------------------  
"You think Eddie will come today? Come get you?"  
\----------------------

Maybe they should just kill themselves. They have nothing. No one. In the end of these tests they would be killed anyway. On the table, the hot knife comes down, severing another bubbling piece of them. They aren't sure what exactly is being tested on today, only that it is excruciating. 

\----------------------  
"Eddie was just here, he said he'll be right back."  
\----------------------

They stop eating.

_Eddie walks in wearing a lab coat and sneaks them out when the others aren't looking._

Maybe they should try to stop sleeping. But it is difficult to move, and they find their consciousness slipping more often than not.

 _Eddie is with Anne and their puppy. The puppy is eating a tater tot Eddie threw it. Venom feels a surge of jealousy._  
(How pathetic is that, jealous of your own dreams.) __  
_The puppy eats someones arm. The puppy eats rat poison. Anne spoons Eddie on the couch, watching TV. Kramer is being tortured on the screen. He screams._

Venoms eyes snap open. The screaming doesn't stop. A doctor frantically runs into the room, slamming into the doorframe and slumping.

The others look up, frightened. A good look on them.

He locks eyes with Venom. Out of breath.

"Eddie is here."

And he collapses, red seeping from his back. 

  


Eddie steps through the door.


	3. Chapter 3

Eddie has never been a violent person. 

Venom tries to consolidate their image of soft Eddie (who cries at animal shelter commercials, and when he's stressed about basically anything) and this new Eddie: covered in blood, beating in the face of the last remaining doctor. He doesn't look like he will stop, though the doctor went slack long ago.

"Eddie." Venom cries out weakly.

For some reason that seems to snap him out of it. He spins around so hard he trips, then he's running over to Venom.

"Shit! I just killed like 5 people. Fuck. I should've worn gloves, oh god the glass isn't breaking how do I get you out?" He rambles nervously, smacking at knobs and controls until Venoms container slides open. "You're so small, those fuckers didn't feed you at all? Those fucking ..fuckers. Okay- okay. We're going home. I got like 9 bags of those dinosaur nuggets you love, they've been sitting in the freezer since you first went, uh, missing. So they're probably still okay to eat. Does that sound good? What do you need?" He hovers, not touching.

Venom is reeling. This has to be a dream. 

"Not real," they whisper to themselves. They have to remember this.They cannot let themselves believe in this, not this time. 

Eddies face falls, and then tightens in fury. Venom shrinks back. Real or not, this is when Eddie kills them. They hate when Dream Eddie kills them. About a fourth of the time. They are heavily dosed and can still form only small shards of speech.

"Don't be mad."

He softens. "Not mad at you. This is my fault. I- I'm sorry I took so long, it took me some time to find this place and get in. I'm so, so sorry. Can I touch you?"

They look at him. This doesn't look like dream Eddie.  
This Eddie has even deeper eye circles than they remember, blood spattered across his sweaty, ushaven, greasy face. That's more like _their_ Eddie. 

They nod and he scoops them up into his arms and it's so, so warm. They melt into his touch, quivering and carefully holding back tears. This couldn't possibly be real.

"You wanna go get those nuggets now?" He asks.

They nod against his chest.

"Anything else you want right now, because I would do," his voice cracks. "Uh, I would give you whatever you want right now, to be honest. Even more murder. Whatever you want right now."

They hesitate, and Eddie strokes his hand over their sides.

"Can we go watch Seinfeld," they sob.

"Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good."


	4. Chapter 4

Venom wakes up shaking. They feel the phantom sting of a cold scalpel, quickly replaced by warmth from behind. Eddie.

"What's wrong," Eddie mumbles into the pillow. 

"Nothing." They're already beginning to calm down. It's the third day they've woken up expecting to be back... there, like this was all another dream. It's also the third day Eddie has taken off work, put off plans to stay home with Venom. Probably to make sure Venom wouldn't panic and lash out while among other people.  
They need him to know they're over it, and he can continue life as usual.

"That's bullshit, I can feel you."

Venom disappears into his chest. 

"Venom? Dude. Babe. Come out."

They don't. Eddie sighs and sits up, swinging his legs over the beds edge.

"This isn't fair, bud."

_no, it isn't fair, that they're wasting time talking about this when it's over and they're home._

"You're always taking care of me. We're in this together, it should be a two way thing, right? It's okay to need- whatever you need. Just- let me help." 

Let him help. It seems so easy. Too easy to be real. _This isn't real._

_Eddie isn't here_

"Venom, you're shaking my ribcage."

Eddie is breathing. Real or not, this is all they have. Maybe it's stupid to keep secrets, when they can feel every shift in Eddies blood pressure, every hormone spike, feel the waves of concern flowing through him right now. And Eddie isn't just gonna let it go- he's been nagging like this ever since they got back.

They ease into Eddies mind and let him see.

Thoughts of fear, hunger, defeat, and Eddie, in cycles each day. The loneliness, knowing they would never see the real Eddie again. These pour from them to Eddie like a broken dam. Waking pain and sleeping pain. Dreams of home and Eddie and Eddie killing them and Eddie forgetting them, Venom cut up and dead and Eddie home, happier-  
Venom cuts it off. They didn't mean to show that much.

Eddie is eerily silent. They prod at his head.

"V, " he says, voice thick. "You don't think I think about you like that. Tell me that was just the drugs making you think all that."  
They looked at him blankly. He exhales.

"I spent every day since you were gone finding you. Those doctors weren't the first people I had to hurt. I was a fucking mess the whole time. I couldn't function, I kept thinking about if you were hurt or... worse. People noticed. Anne wouldn't stop inviting me over, I was _this close to quitting my job_ \- But that's not important, what I mean is like, I missed. You. Wasn't the same without you. And I'm definitely NOT better off like that." They're twined around his arm. He strokes them as he speaks. Quietly. "I love you more than anything dude. Got it?"  
Got it. They feel the truth in the words, and they will cling to this, regardless of how their mind says otherwise.

They stay in bed until noon, soaking up Eddies warmth.


End file.
